Written By Gus, Latitudes Year ’22 Thailand
Hello, My name is Gus. I have been living in Thailand for just over two months as an intern at CORE sea. We work Wednesday through Sunday, so we have Monday and Tuesday as our weekend. A normal work day starts with a group meeting at 9 a.m. in the classroom. Stefan and Vicky (our bosses) brief us on where we are diving and what we are doing during the dive. After setting up our equipment, we are picked up by a longtail boat to go diving at around 10 a.m. The dives are usually about one hour long with a 10-20 minute boat ride there and back. Everyone then meets in the lab to input data from the dive after a one hour lunch break. Once all of the data is on the computer, we are free to do whatever for the rest of the day.
One of the best activities for the afternoons after diving is going to one of the many beaches on Koh Phangan. There are isolated beaches to sleep on or more touristy beaches with cafes and restaurants. Another activity is the night markets. Every Saturday and Sunday, there are different open air night markets across the island. These are great to buy any type of food, clothes, or souvenirs.
One of the best days so far was the very first day we arrived at CORE sea. After all of the paperwork and a tour of the building, we were able to explore the nearby area. It was amazing to see all of the forested mountains and pristine beaches, realizing that this would be our living area for the next few months.
This internship and the people we are working with have been amazing. Now I am deciding whether I want to go back to college or make a living off of scuba diving. I would recommend this internship to anyone wanting to get into diving or anyone just trying to learn more about underwater ecosystems.
